Stor wrapped his coat tighter around his body. The hunters had decided to investigate the forest within the dark. Apparently this was dangerous in the forests beyond Aseth; this forest was equally dangerous at night and day.
Night had many advantages, the most important being the stars. The forest was magical, and one of the vexes that hunters deal with was the loss of direction. Familiar places started to look unfamiliar and landmarks were sparse; at one point a metal thing called a compass was brought but it didn’t work.
Only the stars could be depended upon. With enough experience, hunters could find their way back as long as they kept to the outskirts. They all were going much deeper than that.
The lack of noise was paranoia-inducing. There was no screeching of monsters in the distance, no howls or calls, not even the chirping of birds. Just the ever-rustling song of leaves and grass.
They all had greatly overestimated themselves. Under the darkness, they all began to see things that weren’t there. There were several times where his own skeleton almost jumped out of his skin when he or others freaked out over nothing.
They all were getting tired too. The strain of the constant caution and fear was taking its toll. There was an energizing tea that they had carried with them to help them last night, but at this point it was the only thing keeping them going.
The biggest source of the fear though was the state of decay. There were much fewer fresh sprouts or new leaves. Everything, from the trees to the flowers, seemed to have become withered and less vibrant. It was almost like the forest was slowly dying.
That thought scared Jacob the most. This forest was magic, no, divine. What kind of thing could cause this powerful place to begin to rot?
What would happen to them if they discovered it?
Stor felt that the arrows and knives he kept with him were laughing at him at the absurdity that they would help him survive. The shadows seemed to laugh at him too as they flickered and waved to the nighttime breeze.
Stor reached into his satchel and pulled out some drugs to help him. There were monsters that used insanity and madness to hunt their prey, and these slightly doughy pellets helped keep him lucid. The hallucinations didn’t stop, but he was able to better tell what was delusion or reality.
The others either followed him or had already taken their medicine. The group kept traveling and they all kept discovering nothing. They had found a few herbs and vegetables, but there was nothing significant enough to make the journey worthwhile.
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Then they spotted tracks. Tracks weren’t unusual, but when all of them were leading in a certain direction, it was strange. They kept checking them—all the tracks were recent, as if within the last several days.
None of them had any idea what could have caused this. Perhaps there was a spring nearby? None of them had any memory of their being a spring. Even if there was a spring, these tracks were more extreme than in his memory.
They stopped nearby to eat some of the fruit that they had found as they discussed what to do.
“These tracks are too strange. I don’t think I have seen anything like that before.”
“Many of those tracks came from predators and prey, why would they be traveling in the same direction?”
Stor thought to himself for a moment as he ate a slice before saying, “Either they were running towards something, or running away from something.”
That caused all of them to pause. Many of them were hesitant to follow the tracks, yet there was the real possibility that not following them could be more dangerous.
They kept discussing and debating with each other before they came to a decision: they were going to follow the tracks. Once they understood where the beasts had gone, they had a better chance of understanding why they moved. The possibility of danger was greater in the places where these strong monsters didn’t want to be.
They finished up their short rest and began to follow the tracks. Along the way, they tried their best to recall what was in this direction. There weren’t any significant landmarks, making each of their recollections closer to suggestions. None of them spotted signs or omens that would offer clues either.
The tracks met up with more tracks, like streams combining to form a river, and the mystery deepened. The amount of beasts were staggering, more than many of them had thought possible. It was as if all the beasts from this part of the forest banded together into an army.
The withering had become more pronounced. Blades of grass that looked diseased had become commonplace, and healthier trees were rare. The beasts weren’t fleeing from this strange malison. They were marching towards it.
They stopped for another round of discussion. Even the most stone-headed of them had lost their fervor as the forest around them seemed to be telling them not to go in this direction. They looked down and confirmed several more times that the tracks were leading this way and not fleeing from it.
With some exploration they had found several tracks where the animal had fled away. They were rare though.
None of them wanted to follow the tracks directly, and all of them provided excuses to just change the direction slightly. However, as they traveled around the destination of the tracks there were no answers to their questions.
The night was ending fast. They were forced to decide either to head towards the strange destination, or to head towards a nearby safe camp. They didn’t have much food though, and all the camps had been looted to help the village.
There was no choice. They had to find out what was going on, and the answer was right in front of them. They slowly followed the trails again.
All the tracks joined together in an opening. All the grass had been trampled with the indents and shapes of the beasts they were tracking. There was no watering hole or any reason for them to come here.
Instead, there was a large rock that housed the entrance to a cave.
